Three Kunoichi: Scorpian, Deer, and Flower
by OverlordZ623
Summary: Three new Kunoichi end up in the Village Hidden in the Leaves, what Craziness will ensue?
1. Chapter 1

**Hey! This doesn't necessarily follow the continuity of the Naruto Anima/Manga! So don't blast me out of the water if something doesn't fit right. I apologize in advance. Also, this is merely and introductory chapter, the next one will focus on one specific character rather than three. Other than that, enjoy, and review! Thanks for reading! **

Enter: Three Kunoichi! The Scorpion, The Deer, and The Flower!

Naruto Uzumaki groaned as a loud knocking was heard on his door. He had just gotten back from his first ever real mission, and all he wanted to do was sleep. "Naruto! Wake up! It's Iruka sensei, there's something really important I want to talk to you about." He yelled through the door. Naruto crawled out of bed, what on earth could be so damn important? The blond haired ninja opened the door and glared at his sensei. "What the hell do you want?" Naruto snapped. Iruka only smiled down at him. He had a steaming cup of ramen in his hands.

"Let me in, I have some great news for you." The young boy groaned, but opened the door a little wider; Sensei had at least brought food with him. Naruto watched irritated as his sensei began to babbly on incessantly about something or other. "I'm really proud of you by the way." He said. "Kakashi told me what a good job you had done." Iruka nodded approvingly. Naruto said nothing; instead he attacked his ramen like a beast coming upon its prey after a winter of nearly starving to death. "Hey! Slow down, you don't want to make yourself sick do you?" Naruto only grunted. When he had at slurped the last of the ramen he eyed his old teacher. "So what's this surprise?" He asked.

Iruka only smiled and handed him a slip of paper. "You've had breakfast, now take a shower and get dressed, make sure it's clean clothes, there's a very special someone here to meet you in the village today, you don't want to disappoint them do you?" Naruto shot out of his chair. "Why didn't you tell me that earlier?" He yelled. "Oh man! Who is it? Is it some royal?" He asked. "Is it a hot princess asking for my hand in marriage?" A lecherous grin found its way to his face. "Not exactly." Iruka said, chuckling nervously. "It is a girl, and she is a princess in her own way, but I don't think you two will ever marry, at least I hope you won't."

"Is she pretty?" Naruto asked, getting more and more excited by the minute. "She's very cute." Iruka supplied. "Alright! What is she doing here for me?" He asked. "Get ready," Iruka said. "And everything will be explained to you all in good time. Oh by the way, she'll be a new team member as well." "Hm?" Naruto frowned. "I thought there were only allowed to be three per team, to you know, balance things out?" Iruka nodded. "Usually yes, but she's an exception to the rule. Also, there are two other very important Ninja coming to the village, they will be added to new groups as well." Naruto nodded. "Now hurry up, we don't want our princess to be kept waiting do we?"

"No! Believe it!" Iruka smiled as he watched the whizzing of blond hair all over the place.

Shikamaru groaned as his mother woke him up. "Shikamaru!" She snapped. "I thought I told you to clean this room!" Shikamaru winced. "I don't see why." He said. "It's not like Shikaru cares what it looks like."

"I don't care if Shikaru cares, that's your sibling and you are to give them a warm welcome! Clean this room up or I'll do it for you!" Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "How troublesome." He mumbled. A few moments later there was a knock at his door. "Come in." He said. Choji and Ino made their way into his room. "Wow, this place is a dump!" Ino scrunched up her nose and looked around. "Is it true?" Choji asked, getting right to the point. "Is Shikaru really coming back home?" Shikamaru nodded. "Yup, it's true."

"Do you think…?" Choji didn't finish the question. "I'm sure Shikaru will remember you, we talked about anything and everything in our letters." Choji let out a big grin. "Hey, who's this Shikaru person you're both talking about?" Ino asked feeling left out. "It's Shikamaru's younger sister." Choji informed her. Ino's mouth dropped. "I didn't know you had a younger sister!" She said. "Why didn't you tell me this?"

"It never came up." He said. "Besides, she's been gone for years now; I didn't know when she was coming back until last week."

"Ugh! You knew last week and you didn't tell me?" Choji whined.

Shikamaru let out a small smile. Shikaru had accepted Choji as soon as he had entered Nara's house for the first time, instantly calling him brother, and treating him like one. They had grown close as a result; he had been devastated when she left to go train specially. "And she's not only coming back big guy." He said, wrapping an arm around his friends shoulder. "She's going to joining our team." There was a moment of silence before the sudden outburst from Choji; he seemed more excited than the rest.

Maito Gai couldn't feel more energetic this morning. His students noticed, he was running them into the ground quicker than usual. "Yeesh Gai Sensei." Tenten said. "What's got you all excited?" A brilliant flash of white teeth nearly blinded her. "My daughter Juniper Lee is coming to train with us!" He said with all the excitement of a three year old getting the biggest ice cream scoop ever. "You have a daughter?" his three students asked. They thought about it, and basically came up what the female version of Lee, but with longer hair. Gai nodded. "She's three days younger than Lee!"

"That's great Gai sensei! When does she arrive?" Lee enthused. "Any moment now."

"What she like Gai sensei?" Tenten asked, she was excited to have another girl on the team. Gai bit his lip. Unfortunately, due to some maternal problems, Gai had only been able to spend one day a year with his daughter. Unfortunately, those days had been over shadowed by Juniper's delightful family, and he could only ever get two words to her. So he sat back and just observed his little girl.

"She's sweet." He said finally. "Very patient and she has a way with children, I don't know much about her ninja training, but I've read her file, and she's very good at what she does." He nodded, that was all he could give them. "I can't wait to meet her!" Lee said enthusiastically. "She sounds great." Gai let out another million watt smile. "She is great, you'll see!"

Naruto glared at his two teammates and his new sensei. "Hey! I thought this princess was coming to see me!" Naruto whined to Iruka. He smiled. "Yes, she is specifically coming to see you, but she has to see her new team as well."

"I don't see why that's so important." Naruto huffed. "You will once we get there."

"Hey Iruka Sensei, who is this girl?" Sakura asked as they headed off. "Um, I can't tell you that, she swore me to secrecy."

"Oh come on! We promise to act surprised when we get there." Naruto said. "I'm sorry guys, but nothing could make me tell you." And it was the truth. The Princess was just so damnably cute it would break Iruka's heart just to see her frown once. He knew that it was mostly because she had perfected the cute act over the years, using what was natural.

Sakura and Naruto moved back, crestfallen. "How long is it going to take?" Naruto said, changing the subject. "Not very long, that is if she hasn't misbehaved." Kakashi said. "What do you mean?" Sakura asked. "The young girl we're about to meet, this 'princess' is a very skilled ninja, but she's lacking in the most basic of training, such as focusing her chakra, or, focusing at all." Naruto's eye rose. "If she's such a skilled ninja, why is she having trouble with focusing her chakra?" He asked. "Because, she was specially trained in certain areas, and she's pretty much perfected everything else. Of course, her original Sensei could have trained her in basics, but she was adamant on…" He looked at Naruto. "Getting to know you." Naruto's face nearly broke in half because of the wide, goofy grin that had planted itself there. "What makes Naruto so Special?" Sakura snapped.

"Is that him?" A small voice said. The group turned. There was a wide eyed girl looking at them fearfully. She was clinging to Iruka for dear life. She had blond pig tails and large blue eyes. As if Naruto had come up with a more demure model for his Sexy Jutsu. She was wearing an orange tank top, with orange pants and the standard shinobi sandals; she had small earrings, and a hair clip to hold her bang from her eyes. "Yes that him." Iruka urged. The girl let out a large smile and hopped right in front of Naruto. "My Name is Nobu Uzumaki!" She chirped happily. "It's nice to finally meet you big brother!" She bowed and clasped her hands to her back.

The group stared at her. She was almost unbearably cute. "Wha-what are you?" Naruto asked. Nobu frowned and looked up and Iruka. He nodded his reassurance. "I'm your sister." She said, letting out a small smile, shyer this time. "Is this some kind of trick?" Sakura yelled. "Because this isn't funny."

"This is no trick." Kakashi said. "It's all real, that's really Naruto's younger sister, she was taken from the village for classified reasons." Nobu looked at the ground a small blush coming to her face. "I'm sorry." She said, sniffing, immediately turning her cute up to three hundred. "I didn't mean to upset anyone." A little choke was heard in her voice. "Gah! No, don't start crying!" Naruto said. "It's ok; I was just surprise that's all! I'm glad to have a little sister!" He began to dance around her like a puppet. Kakashi sighed, this was just one of Nobu's many abilities, she melted anyone, even the strong Shinobi with her crazy cuteness. And if that didn't work, she tried something else more deadly. Poor saps like Naruto just couldn't handle it.

"N-no, it's ok." She brought her hands to her face to wipe away a few crocodile tears. "I can go if you want."

"Wahh!" Naruto got more erratic. "No, I promise its ok. I was just surprise, really!" Nobu looked up at him, blue eyes sparkling. "Where you really?" She sniffed. "Yeah, really, Belive it!" Her face instantly brightened up. "Yay! I was hoping to surprise you!" She said. She took his hand. "I've always wanted a big brother you know!" She said. "And then one day poof! I found out that I really had one." She leaned in conspiratorially. "It made Tsuku-sama so mad, but don't tell him I told you that, he'd get really angry then." She giggled. Naruto let out a sigh, that had been easy, and who the hell was Tsuku? "Anyway, this is Sakura Haruno," Iruka said, interrupting them, "Sasuke Uchiha, and you're new sensei, Kakashi Hitake." Nobu beamed and bowed low. "It's a pleasure to meet you all." She said. "I look forward to training with you too!" She added. Naruto gave her thumbs up. "Yeah! Alright! I have a sister! Whoo hoo! I'm gonna be the best big brother ever! Believe it." Nobu looked on and clapped, joining in with his festivities. "I'm going to be the best little sister." She said giggling. If things got anymore cute, Kakashi was afraid he'd have a heart attack.

Shikamaru was getting irritated, Shikaru was never late, she was early for everything. He looked at his watch. One minute to eight, she was cutting it close. "Oi, Shikamaru, would you freaking sit down?" Ino commented. "He can't, He gets like this every time Shikaru-Chan cuts it close to her arrival time." Choji commented through a mouthful of food. "Really? Since when does her care about the time?" Ino asked. "Since he became an older brother. It may not look like it, but Shikamaru is really over protective of his sister." Choji confided. "Really?" Choji nodded. "Yeah, they're really close, they sleep in the same bed an everything." Ino scrunched her nose. "That's so weird" She commented. Choji shrugged his shoulders. "Shikaru's kind of neurotic." He informed her. "She doesn't like to sleep without someone, or something, in the room with her. Her mom wouldn't allow her any pets, so she just slept with Shikamaru."

"But that room is so small, how to they share it?"

"Shikaru-Chan is a minimalist." Shikamaru informed them. "She doesn't believe in excess of anything, unless its excess money, which I'm sure she has enough of by now, damn it she's late!" He pointed to his watch. It was directly on eight o' clock. "Relax big bro." A voice sounded, they all turned. "I'm right on time."

"No, you're late! You usually arrive early!" He snapped. Shikaru Nara let out a big smile. She looked exactly like Shikamaru, but with boobs, a curvier figure, and much longer hair. "I missed you too brother." The two siblings embraced each other. "H-Hey Shikaru-Chan!" Choji called. "Choji! My brother from another mother! What's up big guy?" She hugged him as well. "I missed you; we gotta a lot of catching up to do guys." She hung around their necks. Ino cleared her throats. "Oh, hullo." Shikaru said nonchalantly. "You must be Ino Yamanaka. Shikaru Nara at your service, but not really, because I don't like servicing people, it's usually the other way around.

Ino gritted her teeth, she already didn't like the over bearing girl. Shikaru smiled. "Don't look so fucking uptight." She said. "I'm only kidding yeesh!" She untangled herself from her brother and Choji. "come on, Lunch is on me, I heard they were doing this whole, 'all you can eat and its free' thing down at this barbeque place, I don't know about you, but I'm pretty fucking hungry."

Gai looked at the young girl in front of him. She took nothing from her father but the straight, jet black hair. The rest was nothing but her grandmother. Blue eyes, delicate frame, rosy cheeks, skin to die for. She was holding a small puppy in her arms. The rest of his students were flabbergasted. "I'm so glad you could make it!" Gai said. He flung himself at his daughter. The puppy barked a little. Juniper let out a small giggle. "I missed you too daddy." She wrapped her arms around him.

"These are my students!" He said turning around, not entirely comfortable with his daughter there with him. He never had this much interaction with her, and it was unnerving him, he wanted to seem like the coolest dad in the entire world. "Rock Lee, Neji Hyuuga, and Tenten!' Juniper smiled and bowed. "Hello, my name is Juniper-Lee Gai, you can call me Juni if you like." Lee was the first to bow. "It is a pleasure to meet you Miss. Juni." She smiled. "No, there pleasure is all mine, Daddy often talked about you guys in his letters. I hope you don't find this creepy, but I feel like I know you all so well already." She let out a smile and Lee's hearted melted. "No creepiness at all," Tenten reassured her. "It's nice to have you on our team." Juni smiled. "We were just in the middle of training." Her father said. "If you want, you can sit out for today." Juni shook her head. "No, I'd like to train too. And don't go easy on me because I'm you're only child." Gai flashed her his famous smile and thumbs up. "Alright! Lets do this!" She put her puppy down. "Oh, by the way, this is Kujo." She said. "I hope you don't mind daddy, little brother gave him to me." Gai nodded. "Not a problem, now lets get on with this training."

Nobu looked at the training ground, she had insisted on getting a grand tour of the village, the first stop had been a ramen noodle stand. "Actually." Nobu informed them. "Ramen makes me sick." Naruto looked at her, mouth wide open. "Well, there's the first difference." Kakashi observed. "What? But, ramen is the best thing in the entire world, how the hell can it make you sick?" He said. She shrugged. "I dunno, it just does, it's the same with barbeque." Dejected, Naruto moved on and showed her other things. She stopped at the flower shop for a moment, frowning. "what's wrong Nobu-Chan?" Sakura asked. Nobu looked at her. "Nothing." She said. "I just miss all my plants back home."

"I didn't know you were a botanist." Iruka commented. Nobu smiled. "Yup! And an Entomologist too."

"What the hell are those?" Naruto said. Sakura smacked him. "You're such an idiot Naruto!" She said. "It means study plants and bugs." Nobu told him. "I'm really good at it too!" She puffed out her chest. "I'm the best in the whole village! They called me Sakura Hime!"

"That's so cool. Did you just grow flowers?" Sakura asked. Nobu shook her head. "Course not, I grew a lot more than just plain old flowers, some breeds I even made up myself." Everyone looked at her. She blushed. "Sorry," She said. "When it comes to my plants and my bugs, I get excited." She explained. "They've pretty much been my life for the past couple of years. Show me the training grounds." She said, changing the subject. Naruto grabbed her hand and led her away, and now there they were. She looked over it critically.

"Um, ok." She said. "What's the matter Nobu?" Kakashi asked. She shook her head. "I'm not used to being trained someplace so…tame." She admitted. "What do you mean tame?" Naruto asked. "That's right, you and your team were trained extremely differently than everyone else." Nobu nodded. "How different?" Naruto asked, getting frustrated. "Um, well, very different." Nobu said. "I can't really talk about it." She said. "I'm not allowed, my Sensei told me that if I told anyone, I'd be dead in three point five seconds." The children gulped. "That's horrible." Sakura said. Nobu shrugged. "A small price to pay for power."

She walked around getting the feel of things. Sasuke had hung back the entire time, doing nothing but observing her, and he couldn't help but be put off, how the hell can such an impish little creature be a powerful Kunoichi? Like Kakashi had warned them earlier. His thoughts were interrupted. "Since we're here Nobu, why don't we start on your exercises now."

"But! Kakashi Sensei! She just got here." Naruto protested. "No time like the present!" Nobu said enthusiastically. "What would you like me to do?" She asked plaintively. "I want you to walk up a tree." He said simply. She glared at him. "You talk to Sensei didn't you?" She asked. Kakashi's one eye closed, indicating a devilish smile underneath his mask. "I have no clue what you're talking about." She sighed. "Fine, but be prepared to have a bigger training ground." She mumbled. Naruto looked at his new sister intently. "What do you mean by that?" He asked. "Just watch." She mumbled, looking for a poor innocent tree. She chose the biggest of the lot. She pushed her chakra down to her feet, but before she could even touch the tree, it shattered into millions of shards.

The group looked at her, astonished. "Sorry!" she yelled. "I can fix that!" She did a couple of hand signs, and before the last shattered piece of wood could touch the ground, the tree was put back together as if nothing had ever happened. "What that hell?" Naruto yelled. Sasuke's eye twitched, he had a feeling there was more to Nobu Uzumaki that met the eye.

Shikaru looked at the table, stuffed. "Oh man, that was fucking good." She said, and let out a long belch. "I didn't know girls could eat so much." Asuma, her new sensei commented. "If you think that's a lot," Shikaru started. "You should see my friend Nobu, she eats at least twice as much as Choji does on a good day." Everyone just stared at her. "Its true, and she never gains a freaking pound, it irritates me so much! I wanna pack that much food into my belly." Shikamaru groaned.

"So, Shikaru, how hard are you used to working?" Asuma asked. "I work full throttle at all times. However, depending on the situation, my full throttle can be lower, or higher that day."

"Your sensei sent me your file, in it, it states that you're good with the human body." She nodded. "The physicality only, I can't diagnose any of those diseases and crap, I can get you in the best shape of your life though." She beamed proudly. "That doesn't surprise me at all." Shikamaru said. "Yeah, considering you freaking tore all your dolls up when you were younger to look at their insides." Choji added. Ino looked at her shocked. "I can't help it, I love my fellow humans…" She paused. "Well, at least their insides." She smiled at Ino, who scooted a few inches away from her. "Anyway, what did you study?" Shikamaru asked. His sister shrugged, now that she was seat in between the two boys, Asuma noted how small she really was. He fired she barely reached his waist. "This and that." She said. "Mostly physical therapy."

"Yeah, ok, but, the last time we talked, you said you were on your way to becoming a great ninja, and you said you wouldn't be back until you reached that goal…" Shikamaru said. Shikaru smiled. "Ok, you caught me, I'm actually here on a secret mission." She confessed. "What is it?" Choji asked. "That's the whole point of 'secret' Choji." Shikaru said, and petted him on the head as he began to pout. "Don't worry Bro number two, if everything goes ok, there won't be any problems, and things will go off without a hitch." She said.

Choji settled for that answer, but Shikamaru wouldn't, he knew his sister better than that, something must be really wrong, or she was lying, and his sister never lied, she told the brutal honest truth. He would try to figure it out later, somehow, he would trick her into telling him.

Juni looked at her near dead teammates. She was still on her feet, and barely sweating. "Wow, you're amazing Juni-chan." Lee said. Juni laughed. "Practice." She said. "intense practice." Gai looked at her. "What did you practice Juni?" Tenten asked. "Stamina one oh one?" Juni laughed. "You won't believe me when I tell you." She rubbed Kujo's head. "Try me."

"Dancing." She admitted. "Dancing?" Tenten sounded incredulous. "There's no way you can get that into shape by dancing!" Juni smiled. "There is always a way," She said. "to do something you love, and use it to your fullest capability."

"that's my girl!" Gai said, clapping her on the back. "Working with what you have." She laughed. "I'm hungry daddy." She said. "Right! Stay here! I'll go get you something to eat." With that he was off. "Wow, he's enthusiastic isn't he?" She said. "Hey, Juni, can I ask you something?" Tenten said. "Sure go ahead."

"Well, I mean, you're how old? Thirteen?" She nodded. "And Gai sensei is twenty six…so…how can you be his daughter?" Juni smiled. "Obviously he's not my real dad." She said. "He adopted me a long time ago." Tenten nodded. "If Gai-sensei isn't your real father, why are you coming to live with him?" Neji asked. "Neji! I think that's over stepping our boundaries!" Lee commented. "I agree, you can't ask her that." Tenten said. Juni put her hands up. "Guys, it's alright, we're going to be a team right? You'll find out eventually. My mother…she um, found out that I wasn't exactly going to go along with her plans, and kicked me out."

"That's horrible!" Tenten and lee said. Juni shook her head. "No, what would be horrible was if I didn't have my daddy around, then I would really be in a pickle." She said. "This is true." Lee told her. "Wow, you look on the bright side of things don't you?" Tenten said. "I have no choice, I learned to do that with my friend."

"Friend? Who? What friend?" Lee asked. "Guys, honestly, I think we've grilled her enough." Tenten said. "I don't mind the questions." She said. "Her name is Nobu, she's a bright and cheerful young child, the most adorable thing you ever did meet." Juni explained. "You probably won't believe me when I tell you this. But She's Naruto Uzumaki's younger sister."

"What? No way!" Lee said. "that's impossible." Juni shook her head. "Nope, it's not. I can prove it."

"Then do So Juni-Chan!" Lee said. she smiled, keep up." She disappeared, knowing her father would be able to find her easily if he so desired. Her three new teammates followed her.

Nobu growled as she manage to put another tree back together. "This is so frustrating!" she growled. "I hate this." She's kick the three, but she figured it had put up with enough of her abuse. "Take is easy Nobu concentrate." Kakashi lectured her. "Concentrating on her chakra control has never been one of Nobu's finer points." Everyone turned to look at the new voice. There was Asuma Sensei and his team, with a new girl. She was extremely short, and looked exactly like Shikamaru but curvier with boobs. "Shiiiiikaaaaa-chaaaan!" Nobu squealed and ran over to the girl. "Nobu!" The new girl held out her hands to Nobu, picked her up and swing her around. "I missed you!" Nobu squealed. "We've only been apart for three days." Shikaru said. "That's three days too long!" Nobu whimpered. "I didn't know you were here either! How com you didn't tell me you were coming too?"

"Because we wanted to surprise you." A new girl came into view, she was with Gai's team. "Juuuniii!" Nobu made her way over to her and hugged her as well. "Hello Nobu, how have you been?"

"Good! I missed you too Juni!" Nobu said. "Oh, and I want you to meet my brother and new teammates. Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno, and this is Kakashi Hatake and Iruka Umino sensei." The two girls bowed. "I'm Shikaru Nara." The Shirt brown headed girl said. "This my brother, Shikamaru Nara, my other brother, Choji Akimichi, Ino Yamanaka, and my new sensei, Asuma Sarutobi."

"And I'm Juniper-Lee Gai. Call me Juni please. These are my new teammates. Rock Lee, Neji Hyuuga, and Tenten, my new sensei slash father isn't here, but he's Maito Gai." Everyone exchanged pleasantries.

"Now that everyone is introduced to everyone," Shikaru wrapped her arms around Nobu's neck. "Did you give your brother and new sensei your dietary needs list?" Shikaru asked. Nobu looked down. "I forgot." She said. She reached into her pants pocket, and handed Kakashi and Naruto a list. "Unfortunately, I have to be fed on a regular basis like this." She said. "If I don't, stuff happens, and we don't want stuff to happen."

"Don't worry though." Shikaru said. "Those are only for missions so you can prepare properly, Shikaru and I have her dietary needs covered while she's in the village." Juni finished. "Nobu, this is a very expensive diet." Kakashi commented, looking over the list. "Extremely expensive."

"I know!" Nobu said. "What makes it worse is that I eat all that in one sitting." Naruto just looked at her. "You do not eat all of THIS in one sitting." He held the list in front of her. "Oh but she does compadre." Shikaru said. "she eats every last little bit of that, she's eat the bones from the meat if we let her."

"But you don't because that could be used to flavor other foods." Nobu said. "Of course Nobu doesn't have to eat all that in one sitting, she can moderate it throughout the day is she desperately needs to," Juni said. "But it's preferred to eat it all. Also, Nobu, this is for you." She handed her a package. "old Mrs. Wang wanted you to have it, it's all her tea recipes." Nobu squealed. "I love that old lady!" She snatched the package from her hands. "this is all well and good guys, but if you don't mind, I would like to get back to Nobu's training." Kakashi informed them all. Juni and Shikaru nodded. "Right! Nobu, a little tip, remember, you're not training like you used to," Shikaru said. "So you don't have to tap into your reserve at all."

"Also, underestimate your chakra use for now. On everything." Juni advised. "Adjust accordingly that way. "

"And go slowly, you know when you get angry you tend to rush things," Shikaru told her. "And that never ends up well."

"And above all else." The girls looked at their blond haired friend. "Good luck." They both gave her a thumbs up. Nobu nodded. "I could do it!" She said, and fist pumped the air. "Here, hold this." She shoved the box into her brothers hands and approached another suspecting tree. "Wait!" Juni said. "One last tip! Think about it like you're growing your plants Nobu-Chan! Life giving, not life taking." Nobu nodded.

When she was ready, she gingerly placed her foot on the tree, nothing happened, she placed another foot on it, nothing. She began to make her way slowly up the tree, leaving flowers in her wake. "What the? What's happening to the tree?" Naruto asked.

"Nobu is special." Juni said. "Very special. That's all." Naruto. "I'll say, first she goes from blowing trees up! To freaking growing flowers on them? What the hell." Shikaru looked at her. "Its, kind of awkward really." Shikaru said. "But, we'll leave that for another time. Word of advice Kakashi, reward her often with words of encouragement, and never yell at her, she hates being yelled at, but don't be afraid to push her, if she gets whiny, feed her, if she's still whiny taunt her." Shikaru shrugged. "Other than that, good luck to you man."

"We salute you for undertaking such an ardent task!" Juni said. "There was never a better or nobler man we set eyes on."

"hopefully you survive!" Shikaru and Juni saluted him, and walked off. All in all, it had been a pretty successful day for the people of the Village Hidden in the Leaves.

**Phew! First chapter down! Things will get more interesting, don't worry! (In case anyone was wondering the ships are as follows: NobuX Gaara, JuniXLee and Shikaru is as of yet, undetermined. Any ideas for her would be helpful.)**


	2. Chapter 2

Nobu and the Curse of the Black Cat!

Sweat dripped into large blue eyes, the owner barely noticed the vicious sting. Tiny sparks flared up from upturned palms, shocking Nobu Uzumaki, who subsequently blew up the tiny toy in her hands. Naruto winced as he watched his sister's face screw up in frustration. "Remind me to never let Nobu touch me." Sakura leaned over and told him. Naruto said nothing in return, intently watching his sister in case she started crying. "Let's take a break Nobu." Kakashi said. "You've been working hard." Nobu huffed. "Whatever." She looked at the bag of battery operated toys, it was half empty, and it wasn't even lunch time yet. Even more frustrating than that was the fact that it only had been three days since she had moved to her new home in the Village Hidden in the Leaves, and she was steadily working on her fifteenth bag of toys.

"Nobu, can I ask you a question?" Kakashi sat next to her. "You just did Sensei." The older man ruffed up her hair. "You know what I meant." She let out a small smile. Naruto brought her the afternoon snack she was required to have. "When Shikaru and Juni were talking, they said to think about your life giving chakra, not your life taking chakra. What did they mean?" Nobu took her meal from her brother and opened it, thinking about how to best answer him. She looked at the rice and meat mixture. "Well," She hesitated. "Um. It's hard to explain." She took a Kunai knife and drew a yin yang symbol in the dirt. Instead of putting the two dots in the symbol, she used a flower and a skull.

"It's all one chakra." She said. "But I can use to for two completely different purposes."

"Like what?" Sakura asked. Nobu picked at her food, not saying anything. "It's ok sis, you don't have to tell us anything you don't want to." Naruto rubbed her back. "I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable." Kakashi said. "I'm just trying to get to know you that's all." Nobu shrugged. "It's not that I'm uncomfortable telling you guys," She said. "I just don't want anyone to really overhear, it's caused problems in the past."

"Problems?" Kakashi questioned. Nobu looked up at him.

"I'm on my period." She said, changing the subject. "My tummy hurts really bad, can I go home?" Naruto face planted and Sakura face palmed. Kakashi let out a nervous laugh, not sure how to take the sudden turn in conversation. "Sure, you've done enough for today, finish your food and go home and relax. We'll continue tomorrow if you feel like it." Nobu nodded. "Jeeze Nobu, do you have a filter?" Sakura asked. Yesterday, she had loudly announced the she had to 'poopy' and if Kakashi didn't let her go to the bathroom right then and there, she'd do it in the bushes. "Not really, Sensei didn't allow it, we had to say what we wanted when we wanted, how we wanted. Juni's more tactful about it though." Nobu slurped her food. "Also, Sensei said that we had to take down all preconceived notions about the world, and reshape ourselves how we wanted to be, our old selves no longer existed, and some other crap."

"Wow, he must have been a great teacher!" Naruto said. "Yes, _she_ was a great teacher." Nobu corrected him. "Do you think she could teach me?" Naruto asked. Nobu looked at him. "No, sorry." His mouth dropped open.

"What? Why? What makes you so special?" He yelled. Nobu smiled and pointed at her chest. "I has boobies!"

"Yes, very good Nobu, girls have breasts, that's a great observation." Kakashi ruffled her hair again, she slapped his hand away. "No, that's what makes me so special! Sensei won't teach guys, only girls." Naruto sat down. "That sucks. What a sexist." He complained. "And for the record, I'm cute, not stupid." She shot a look at Kakashi. "I'm sorry; I'll try to keep that in mind." She nodded, satisfied. She quickly finished her food. "I'm going now." She got up and glared at the bag of toys. Pointing at it, she hissed, "We have a date tomorrow. And you're all gonna die." She walked away to do whatever it was the Nobu did at home. "Wow! What a weirdo!" Sakura complained. "Hey! Don't talk about my younger sister that way."

"Well it's true!" Kakashi watched absent mindedly while his students fought. It was endearing how well Naruto had stepped into the big brother role, constantly encouraging Nobu, and defending her when Sasuke or Sakura made the slightest negative comment. "Excuse, Kakashi sensei?" He turned around, taking care not to show surprise on his face. Juni was behind him, wearing a concerned look. "How is Nobu doing?" She asked, lightly touching his shoulder.

She momentarily looked at Naruto and Sakura fighting and frowned, saying nothing she trained her eyes back in him. "She's fine Juni; she went home because of lady troubles." Juni pursed her lips as she tried not to laugh. She knew exactly what Nobu would be doing right about now, and it had nothing to do with any sort of 'Lady Troubles'. She kept this information to herself. "Oh, ok. How's her training going?" Kakashi looked over at the bag of toys. "Not very well I'm afraid." Juni nodded. "Yeah, she was never good about controlling her chakra." She sighed. "It sucks, I feel bad for her."

"Oh?" this was his chance, if Juni would confide in him; maybe he could find the best way to help out Nobu. "She never wanted to be a ninja." Juni confessed. "So she really doesn't have the drive Shikaru and I do."

"If she never wanted to be a ninja, why did she become one?" He asked her. Juni bit her lip, and shifted side to side. "Certain circumstances…" She paused. "Unfortunately forced her to become one, she's never really adjusted to the lifestyle, even now she finds it hard to focus on training." Juni's blue eyes locked onto his one brown eye. "She'd rather work on her plants, make medicine, things like that, Nobu only wants to protect people, even if she doesn't know them, she doesn't want to take her life, but, she has this ability…" Juni hesitated again.

"It's gotten her into a lot of trouble; it comes with the territory, but…" Juni paused for a third time, trying to keep from revealing too much. "This is so frustrating!" She complained, hanging her head. "I want to tell you! It would really help her case, but I can't." She sniffed. "Take your time Juni," Kakashi said. "You'll be able to tell me eventually."

"No, it's not my place. I wouldn't break Nobu's trust like that." Kakashi was going to say something but Naruto interrupted him. "Hey! Juni, you just missed Nobu, she went back to the apartment!" He said. "Did you bring any more of your tea?" he asked excitedly, rushing her to her, looking around for it. For the past three days, Juni had periodically checked in along with Shikaru. She always brought her special tea with her."No, sorry Naruto, you and daddy drank it all last night. I'll bring some over later, I promise. I have to go; daddy's going to worry if I don't get back soon." She waved at them. "It was nice chatting with you Juni." Kakashi said. "You too Kakashi sensei!" she ran off, anxious to get back to her own training.

Nobu was sitting cross-legged on the ground, crying fiercely. "What's wrong Nobu?" Kakashi asked, not knowing how to deal with her. "It's just a broken toy." He put an arm around her shoulder. Naruto was running around, trying to find a way to make it stop. Sasuke and Sakura sat in the shade of a tree, rubbing their temples as precautions against forming headaches. "C'mon sis, stop crying!" Naruto said. "My, what's got her all upset?" Kakashi turned. "Juni, you're here, help her calm down please, she's been like this for the past five minutes."

Juni smiled. "Now, now, Nobu, what's wrong?" Juni sat next to her friend and drew her close. Nobu calmed down a great deal. "I k-keep breaking t-the toys." She said. Juni nodded. "That's no reason to cry is it?" she asked. "It's so frustrating!" Nobu wailed, she began crying again, this time, louder. Sometimes, Juni had trouble believing Nobu was a twelve year old ninja. "Nobu," Juni yelled over the crying. "Nobu, please, calm yourself, sensei would be ashamed to see you acting like this." Immediately the water works stopped. "Good." Juni said. "that's it?" Naruto said. "that's all I had to do?" Juni smiled.

"Usually sweets work too." Juni advised. "that's most effective. Now," She turned her attentions back to her friend. "Nobu, why are you breaking the toys?"

"Kakashi sensei wants me to use my chakra to power them." She said. "but I keep over doing it, and they keep breaking." Juni nodded. "you're using too much." She said. "Nobu, remember, as things get smaller, you need to use smaller amounts of chakra."

"I _have _been using smaller amounts of chakra though! Every time I reduce the amount!" Kakashi looked t the girl incredulously, she had been reducing her chakra amounts, and she _still _managed to blow up the small toys, who was she? "It's a nice day out sin't it Nobu?" Nobu looked up. "Yes." She conceded. "let's go ahead and go for a walk."

"But I'm not done with my training!" Nobu protested. Juni got up and brushed herself off. "I'm sure Kakashi-sensei won't mind. We'll only be gone for an hour or so." She turned to the white haired man. "Nobu needs a break anyway." Juni smiled. "Thank you very much." She held out her hand to the blond headed girl. "Come on; let's see how many sweets you can eat in one hour." Juni took her off.

Kakashi got up. "go get some lunch guys." Kakashi said. "We'll meet back here in an hour." His students nodded and walked off as well. Kakashi put his hands in his pocket, and was surprised to see a not slipped inside it. He assumed it was from Juni. It was only two words. "Midnight, here." He crumpled it up and shoved it back into his pocket, as if nothing had ever happened.

Nobu looked at Kakashi sensei, as he dangled the small candy in front of her face. She wanted that candy, no, she needed that candy. It was sweet and delicious, and it was candy, who didn't love candy? "If you manage not to blow up the first toy today, you can have it." He told her. "Kakashi! You can't tease Nobu like that!" Sakura commented. "You know she's gonna blow it up."

"Shut up strawberry head!" Nobu yelled, Sakura blinked at her in shock as Naruto laughed at her. "I'll do it!" She snatched on of the toys from Kakashi's hand and began to concentrate. Naruto held his breath as a small spark of green chakra blasted its way from her hand. He winced when he heard a pop.

This time the toy didn't blow up, however, the little helicopter's blades started to spin rapidly, and if floated a few inches from the palms of her hand. Nobu's tongue was sticking out, and she eyed the toy careful, making sure not to overdo anything. Kakashi was about to congratulate her when someone yelled her name. "Nobu-Chan!" The blond let out a tiny squeak, and blew the sorry toy up. "Aww!" She looked at it dejectedly. "I had it too." She turned around and looked at the person who has called her name. Rock Lee and Juni were standing a few feet away from them. "Juunii! Tell your boyfriend not to sneak up on me!" She flailed. "He made me lose candy!" She ran over to them and began to beat on Lee's chest weakly. He merely looked at her, not knowing what on earth to do about her. "It's not fair, it's not fair, it's not fair!" She wailed. "I was soooo clooooossseee!"

"Nobu!" Juni said, pulling her back. "Hush now; it wasn't Lee's fault that you weren't paying attention."

"No! It's Kakashi sensei's fault!" Juni put a hand on her hips and stared down at Nobu. "Nobu, really? How old are you?"

"Physically I'm eleven and a half, mentally I'm three." Juni let out a small giggle, unable to keep a stern demeanor around her friend. "Yes well, why don't you try acting like you're ten?"

"Ten year olds aren't cute!" Nobu said irate. "Three year olds are! You're lucky I don't talk like a baby!" Juni let out a long belt of laughter. "Hey Juni-Chan, why are you here?" Naruto asked. "I want to play a game." She said. "I like games!" Nobu called, raising her hand. "I know, and I figured, you we haven't played your favorite game in such a long time, we'd play it today. That is, if Kakashi sensei doesn't mind." The white haired ninja shook his head. "I don't mind at all Juni."

"Kakashi sensei, we haven't trained in a while." Sakura whined. "We don't have time to be playing games."

"Yeah!" Naruto agree with her. "How am I supposed to become the next Hokage if I don't train?"

"That's the beauty of it Big brother!" Nobu said. "All our games are designed to wrap training and fun, all in one!"

"Really?" he eyes his sister, skeptical. "Yes, of course Naruto, how else would you keep Nobu engaged in training? I think it's apparent she has a short attention span." Juni told him. "Hey, stop making fun of me." Nobu whined. "It's not making fun if it's true." Sasuke teased her. "That's it, I'm gonna kick your butt." Nobu took a step towards Sasuke, he tensed ready for it. "Nobu, as usual, you know you're role in the game." Juni said, distracting the young girl from causing damage. "I'm always that thing!" She whined. "That's because you're good at playing your part." Juni explained. "Besides, no one has ever played this game before, so its only natural, as senior members, we let the others try it out first." Nobu crossed her arms over her chest. "Fine." She mumbled. Everyone looked between the two girls, not sure what to make of the exchange. "It's like they're speaking words, but I can't understand it." Naruto said. Before anyone could say anything about his comment, Juni spoke.

"Alright, story time." She sat down. "Yay! Story time."

"I thought we were playing a game." Lee said, sitting next to her. "Shut up and go with it." Nobu snapped. Naruto rolled his eyes and sat next to his sister, who moved closer and cuddled his arm. "This is one of my favorite stories." She whispered. Everyone followed suit and formed a circle. "Once upon a time, there was a witch who had a lover,"

"Hey, Juni!" Nobu groaned, she was impatient, and wanted to get the game done and over with. Everyone turned and looked. Neji and Tenten were side by side, waving. "Oh good, you're just in time!" Juni motioned for them to hurry over. "We were just getting ready to play a game."

"Really Juni, aren't we all a little old for games?" Neji asked. "Hey!" Nobu snapped. "this game has a specific purpose of testing ones endurance, if you're too chicken to fucking play, then leave. I wanna hurry up and get on with it." Naruto blinked. He wasn't aware his adorable sister could curse. Neji glared at her and sat down, no one insulted his ninja abilities. "I'm in." He said. Tenten blinked and stood for a moment. She finally decided that yes, she would in fact give in to peer pressure and sat down, joining the group. "Ok, hopefully there are no more interruptions." Juni shifted so she was sitting corss-legged. "Once upon a time," she began again. "There was a witch who had a lover. Her lover had no idea that she was a witch, and that was a very good thing too."

"Why was it a good thing, Juni-Chan?" Nobu asked. She had heard the story many times before, and already knew the answer, but it had been the norm for her to ask the necessary questions to keep the story going. "Because Nobu, her lover was a witch hunter." Nobu gasped for theatrical effect. "Yes, in fact, he was the best witch hunter to ever live. Every day he would go out and kill witches, and every night he would come home and tell the witch how he had burned her sisters, and some completely innocent people."

"That horrible." Sakura commented, getting into the story. "Worse was yet to come. The witch had become tired of hearing the unrighteous persecution of her kind, and decided one night that she would reveal herself to her lover."

"Why did she do that Juni?" Nobu asked, Neji shot her a glare, but she took no notice. "Because, she was hoping that it would change his heart about the matter."

"Was she right?"

"No, she was dead wrong." Everyone moved closer. "The moment the witch revealed herself, her lover grew angry. She had lied to him, tricked him, put a spell on him, and he was going to make her pay."

"How?" It was Naruto this time. "He decided he was going to kill her unexpectedly." Juni explained. "With the special knife his father had given him. He pretended for weeks on end to accept her, to love her more deeply than he had ever loved anyone. He even stopped his fanatical witch hunts to make the trick seem real. Then one night, as out lovely little witch was in the garden, getting a centerpiece for dinner that night, her lover crept up behind her, and stabbed her." Juni made a stabbing motion in the air. "Thirteen times." She made sure to make eye contact with everyone in the group, making the story more dramatic. "Before she died, the witch cursed her lover. "You will become my familiar." She said. "You will protect me for all eternity, despair in the knowledge that you and I are now and forever linked." He screamed loudly, as his body twisted and turned, bones cracking, fur growing all over his body. In the witch's last moments, she saw her lover, turned into a black cat, with thirteen spots on it." Nobu smiled and disentangled her from her brother. She scooted back a little, no one would notice this, Juni had them all too captivated.

"Now the witch guards her old house as if it were her child, snatching anyone up to use for her sacrifice, she like young blond children the best." She looked at Naruto who grabbed for his sister, but was met with empty air. "Oh no! Juni! She got Nobu." Juni gasped effectively. "This isn't good Naruto." She grabbed the boys shoulders, trying not to laugh at the look of hysteria on his face. Everyone else could guess that this was a part of the game. "Nobu was the only child to escape from her grasp the last time, she's moved her hunting ground, we have to find her."

"Gah! No! Not Nobu, she's so cute and helpless. "We need to find her before nightfall." Juni admonished. "Or else."

"Or else what?" Naruto was afraid of the answer. "Or else, we never see Nobu again." Juni bit her lip. "I know you'v eonly known her for about four days, but I can't live without my Nobu. Can you?" she asked him. Naruto shook his head vicously. Sakura was just about to comment on how much of an idiot he was when a small meow was heard. Everyone looked towards the noise.

There, licking it's paw was a black cat, and it had thirteen yellow spots. "That's him!" Naruto yelled. "It is." Juni gasped. "If you catch the cat, maybe it will lead us to Nobu." Naruto gave a quick glance at Juni, and then sped off, leaving the poor girl to choke on his dust cloud. "Ugh!" She said, clearing her throat. The rest of them just looked at her. "this is the part when you guys get up and try to catch the cat." She said. "You know? The game part?" Neji was the first one up and moving, the rest soon followed. Kakashi and Juni were the only ones left at the training ground. "Aren't you going to play?" He asked. She merely smiled. "I have my own part to play. Remember?" The teacher nodded. "Of course." And left.

Naruto had the cat in his sight, and was ready to pounce. Of course after things had calmed down a bit, he realized that nothing bad actually happened to Nobu, he had just been excited thanks to Juni's convincing acting. The cat was playing with a butterfly, it's back turned to him, he was so close, just a little… The cat freaked out, sprining into the air an hissing violently. A small white dog came from a bush and barked vicsouly at it. Naruto lunged for the cat while it was distracted and caught it. Once the smoke cleared, he found he was holding a screaming Nobu.

"Ack! Nobu why are you screaming?" he asked. "I got bit!" She screamed. "By what?"

"I don't know!" Naruto looked at her. "Where?" He asked. "Here!" Nobu lunged for him and he flew backwards. "Akamaru what the hell?" another boy came bounding onto the scene. "Nobu, what the hell?" Naruto wrestled with his siter for a bit before she feigned going for his nuts. He blocked her, the move prove efficient enough for her to get away, turning back into the black cat. "thanks a lot Kiba!" Naruto yelled. "You and your stupid mutt just cost me my chance!"

"Akamaru isn't…" Before he could finish his sentence, Naruto was off, determined to get to Nobu first.

He gained on her quickly. "Oh! That's not fair!" Cat-Nobu whined. "I'm not used to this anymore."

"I got you!" Naruto reached out to catch his sister's tail, but grabbed someone elses tail instead. "Gah!" He pulled back. "Naruto, you perv!" Sakura swung around to hit him. "I'm sorry Sakura! But you got in the way when I was grabbing for Nobu!" Speaking of Nobu, the two turned to see where she had gone. Naruto snickered at the sight that met his eyes.

Sasuke was sitting on his ass, tied up and little black cat ears jammed on his head. A piece of paper was shoved into his mouth. "Sasuke-kun!" Sakura ran over to him. "Wait! It might be a trap!" Naruto said. Sakura blinked. "What?" She looked at Naruto. "Nobu got me earlier," He explained. "She faked getting bitten just as I was about to catch her, of course, Akamaru helped a little, but still. If the object of the game is to catch Nobu, she would try ever trick in the book not get captured, duh!"

"Your moments of amazing clarity are insightful Naru-kun!" Nobu said, sitting on a branch. "but you got one thing wrong."

"And what was that?"

"It wasn't a trap." She said. Sakura let out a small squeal and ran for Sasuke, untying him. He immediately attacked her. "What the hell Sasuke?" Naruto yelled. "If you'd just wait and let me explain!" Nobu snapped. "Gosh, you're all so impatient!"

"Fine then, no more interruptions, explain!" Naruto pointed at her. "Right, it's another part of the game." She said. "If I capture someone, they're automatically transferred to my team. So Sasuka is now my protecter, and one of the undead. So sorry." She let out a small smile as Naruto let out a low growl. "You're making up rules as you go along!" Sakura accused her. "No I'm no." Nobu defended. 'It's how I've always played the game! One last thing!" She said. "If I catch everyone, I win!" She said. "And no one can stop until that moment, or until I'm caught." Nobu laughed and was off, Sasuka trailing behind her.

Naruto was bent over, huffing. It had turned dark an hour ago. Sakura had been the third on caught, and now he didn't know what to do. He had been looking for anyone, but found nothing, he was getting the suspicion they had all left him there for the sake of some practical joke. He sighed and sat on the ground. "Naruto-Kun?"

"Gah!" He quickly got up, ready to defend himself. "J-Juni?" He asked. "Naruto-Kun, there you are, I've been looking all over for you." Naruto groaned. "The game ended didn't it?" Juni nodded her head. "Only a few moments ago however. She was willing to let herself be caught for the intense want of candy."

"Are you kidding me?" Naruto yelled. "She does these super-cool kick ass ninja moves all day, and all it takes is one piece of candy."

"It's not just one piece of Candy big brother!" Nobu said, walking past him. "It's chocolate. And I can never resist chocolate!" That was apparent. Nobu had chocolate all over her face.

"Who caught you?" Naruto asked. "Lee-kun did." Juni let out a small laugh. "That's my fault I'm afraid, I told him Nobu's weakness." Nobu gasped. Everyone waited for her to yell, instead she hugged her friends arm. "And for that, I thank you."

"Hey! Hold on here," Naruto interrupted. "What about you Juni? I didn't see you the whole game." Juni smiled. "I was the witch." She said. "I help Nobu turn people." Just as she finished her explanation, his group came shuffling from the woods, various colored cat years on their heads. "That was a great game guys!" Lee said. "I-I never knew this could be so tiring." Sakura said, hanging her head low. "Member when we said that it doubled as endurance training?" Nobu asked her. "We weren't kidding."

"At least Shikaru wasn't here, we'd still be playing." Everyone groaned, making Nobi and Juni laugh. "C'mon Juni, let's go home, I'm beat." Tenten said. Juni twitched, suddnely remembering that Tenten had volunteered to spend the night at her house. "Go home Tenten, I can take care of myself." Juni said. Tenten looked at her, with sleep hazed eyes. "No problem!" She began to walk in the direction of her house, and before Lee could say anything, she managed to get her hand over his mouth.

"Yeah, I'm tired too, Nobu, can we go home now?" Naruto asked. "Course we can big brother!" she said. She grabbed his hand. "I'll make dinner for you, and then you can go to sleep." Nobu turned around and waved to all of them. "Let's play again sometime." She said, and laughed at the look on all their distraught faces.


	3. Chapter 3

Juni's irritation, the invasion of Lee!

Juni looked at her teammates, they were sweaty and tired. She, however, was still standing, not a drop of sweat on her person. "Juni, how on earth can you keep going?" Tenten asked. Juni smiled. "I told you, dancing."

"I still do not believe that." Lee commented. Juni giggled. "It's not like I always do one type of dance. There are millions of dances out there, and I strive to perfect each one."

"That's a good goal Juni!" Gai said. "I thoroughly support that." He gave her his famous thumbs up pose. "Hard work and determination is a sign of perpetual youth!"

"Juni," Neji asked. "Yes?" She said. "We still don't know that much about you." He was weary of his new teammate, he didn't know what she was capable of, and that made him nervous. "Neji, we have already had this talk." Lee whispered. "Juni can tell us what she wishes in her own time." Juni smiled and rubbed Kujo's belly thoughtfully.

"Once upon a time, there was a woman." Everyone looked at her "she was a great artist, renowned far and wide. She didn't have great physical beauty, but she was charming. One day, a stranger came into town. He wasn't very rich, or very well thought of, but he was powerful and well known for being a ladies man." Gai looked at the ground, inching away step by step. He didn't like acknowledging that he wasn't Juni's biological father, it was a painful fact that he had yet come to terms with, even though he had met her when she had just turned seven.

"The two met in a bar, got drunk, and slept with each other."

"Oh my." Lee said. "I hope this ends well." Juni smiled. "For weeks this was the pattern, meet at the bar, get wasted, go screw. Like was good. They acted like they didn't know each other during the day, and no one was the wiser. One day, their tiny village was attacked, and the man, with his no good reputation, defended it. There are plenty of legends surrounding this monumental day, but no one know what happened for sure. All they know is, when the smoke cleared, the beast was slain, and the man had disappeared, the body was never found. It's presumed that he's still out there, somewhere."

"Oh, is that the story of your real father?" Tenten asked her. Juni nodded. "Mhm."

"What happened next Juni-chan?" Juni smiled. "Basically, she was knocked up, she had me, and when I was seven, she hooked up with daddy." Juni shrugged. "I feel like he really stepped up the the plate well. Things were good for a while, then mom started cheating, and eventually moves us for a pretty face and good money." Juni said. "Dad and I got separated, but we promised to write each other. Mom set up strict rules, dad could only see me one day out of the year." Lee gasped. "That is horrible!" He said. Juni nodded. "yeah, it is. I think that's enough for today, we'll pick this up some other time." She stretched. "I think that made dad uncomfortable, he's gone, so…" there was a rustling in the trees before Juni was able to finish. "Hey, Juni, I gotta speak words to you woman!" Someone yelled. "Who is that?" Tenten asked. "It's Shikaru-san." Juni said. "Over here Shikaru!" Juni called. Kujo was now livelier that Juni had stopped rubbing his belly. "Oi! I've been looking all over the place for you!" Shikaru snapped, yanking leaves from her hair. Juni frowned at her abrasive friend.

"Is there something wrong?" She asked. The short girl looked more pissed off than usual. Shikaru sat down next to Juni. "I'll say, they're sending me off another fucking mission!" Juni pursed her lips. Shikaru was already on a mission, watching Nobu. This wasn't good. "Would you like me to oversee your current mission?"

"It's not like I'm going to fucking ask Nobu." Shikaru growled. "That would be impossible." Juni placed a hand on her friend's shoulder, looking over at her teammates. "Guys, can you give Shikaru and I some space?" she asked. They nodded and began to leave. "That was a good story Juni-Chan." Lee said bowing. "Thank you for sharing."

"Yeah," Tenten said. "Tell us more about it tomorrow!"

"Have a nice day Juni-Chan." Neji said. They waved at her and walked off, talking amongst themselves of other things. "What's wrong Shikaru?" Juni pressed, she knew it couldn't just be the second mission that had her friend so wired. "It's Nobu, I'm worried." Juni nodded in understanding. "Of course, we both are."

"I don't trust her here, I think we should've have chosen a different way to help her deal with…you know." Juni sighed. "Yes, but this is what she wanted Shikaru, it's not every day you go from being an orphan to finding out you have a brother."

"Yeah, the brother that just so happens to have the nine-tailed fox demon seal inside him."

"It is rather unsettling isn't it?"

"They're brother and sister, we can't let anything happen, at the slightest provocation, on either part…."Shikaru said, she was careful not to give too much away. They had to be careful now that they were no longer under the protection of their sensei, which meant censoring a great deal of their talks with each other. "We have to remove Nobu from the situation." Juni finished for her. "I know, we've been through this." Shikaru growled. "This isn't fair." She said. "Why should we have to babysit?"

"Because we know Nobu the best." Juni said rationally. "If we perceive any danger, or if she feels her feelings are becoming inappropriate for her brother then we remove her, she won't understand, but she'll trust our judgments." There was silence between the two girls. "Can't we just lock her up forever?" Juni laughed and put a hand on her friend's leg. Juni had to touch people when she was talking to them, it was a habit she made, and also a sign of respect, you had her full and complete attention. "No, I'm afraid not Shikaru. Nobu is her own person; she needs her flowers and her bugs, her animals, and human contact. You know that's especially important to her." Shikaru looked off in the distance.

"I want you to find a way to talk to Kakashi about this." She said. "He's her sensei, he should know what to expect. And he'll be able to keep a closer eye on her than we will."

"I checked on her earlier today, he seemed keen to listen." Shikaru nodded. Both girls didn't want to break Nobu's trust, but it had to be done. It was one small secret over potentially thousands of lives. Even in Nobu's book, lives were always more important than keeping information from someone, even if it was personal. "She was also apparently suffering from period cramps." Shikaru choked on her laughter, Nobu still didn't have her period yet, but that didn't stop her from using the excuse to get out of work. "That's horrible." Shikaru said playing along.

"Yes, the poor thing, you know how emotional she gets."

"I leave at dusk." Shikaru said getting up, effectively ending the conversation. "I'll be sure to attend to Nobu." Juni promised her. Shikaru nodded. "Thanks." With that, the brown headed girl left.

Juni decided to lie on the grass to think of a way to get to Kakashi sensei, Kujo began licking her face. She let out a small giggle. "Hey! Where'd everyone else go?" She looked up to see her father. "Oh, sorry daddy, I asked them to give Shikaru and me some space so we could talk." Gai frowned but said nothing. "Well then, would you like to go get something to eat?" He asked. Seeing as his team had abandoned their training for the day, the least he could do was feed his child. She nodded. "Of course daddy." She hopped up, snatching Kujo with her. "I like eating out with you, where are we going?" Gai wrapped an arm around his young daughter's shoulders. "You chose." He told her. "That little tea shop, the one with the really good dumplings." She said. "I like that place."

"Alright then." Gai began to lead the way.

"Juni, do you ever want to find out your real father?" Gai asked her after some time. It was a question he always wanted to know, but never had the courage to ask. Juni grabbed her dad's hand. "Daddy, as corny as this is going to sound, you are my real father." Gai looked at her, a few tears forming in her eyes. "Juni, that's not,"

"I know what you meant dad." She cut him off. "I won't lie to you, there are times when I thought of seeking him out, you know? I wonder who he is, what kind of man he was, but it isn't a major concern in my life. I have a daddy, and he's the best daddy in the world." Gai sniffed and brought his daughter closer to him. "I'm won't ask again." He said. She nodded. "Good, don't, it's unnecessary. Now hurry up and get me to this restaurant! I'm hungry!"

Juni sat in the middle of the training ground, she had managed to slip a note into Kakashi's pocket earlier that day, and she had set up for it. She felt bad about sneaking out of the house; she hoped her father didn't randomly inspect her room at night. Kakashi showed up right on time for once. "What's all this?" He asked. Juni had put up a great many seals around the area; they bore the kanji for silence. "A precautionary measure." She informed him. "I have to be really careful about this meeting." Kakashi nodded. "Sit." She motioned to the spot in front of her. He did as he was told.

"Would you like some tea?" She asked, holding out a cup for him. "Thank you but no." Juni nodded but filled her cup anyway. "It's about Nobu, isn't it?" He asked her. Juni nodded. "She has an amazing amount of power." He noted. "That she does."

"I'm assuming that's why we're here." Juni sighed. "Nobu…is special, the same way Naruto is special." She activated the seals before the conversation went any further, a rush of wind and then nothing but clam, not even crickets could be heard. "There, now no one can hear us, and if they approach they'll get zapped, I hear it's an unpleasant feeling." Juni sipped her tea. "How is Nobu special like Naruto?" Kakashi pressed. "There are many tailed beasts in this world aren't there Kakashi sensei?"

"Yes." He said, deciding to play along, it wouldn't do to pressure Juni into telling him anything. "Did you know, for every tailed beast, there is its opposite?" She asked him. "You mean like a mate?" She nodded. "Exactly. Now, not every mate makes it into someone other person's body, in fact, it's rather rare to have the same type of tailed beast in two different persons." Kakashi waited. "But in Nobu and Naruto's case, it's happened."

"Nobu has Kyuubi's mate sealed inside her?" Kakashi asked. This could spell disaster for the whole village. Juni nodded. "Yes, exactly, which creates the intense amount of Chakra she has. Unfortunately, her seal was poorly done, and that allows the female Kyuubi to come out from time to time, this is an advantage, and a disadvantage."

"Does Nobu know about this?" Juni shook her head. "She only knows that there's something inside her, and it comes out from time to time." Kakashi nodded. "So in other words, she's dangerous."

"Yes, however, she's much less dangerous than Naruto." Juni said. "It seems all the female wants to do is be near her mate." Juni looked up at the sky. "It kind of makes you hope doesn't it?" Kakashi merely stared at her. "I mean, if the monsters of this world can find love, then can't everyone else?" Juni looked back at Kakashi. "Can I confess something to you?" She asked. "If you want." He was sure this conversation was going to get more uncomfortable now that Juni wanted to tell him some secret. He wasn't sure he was completely ready for it, but had already made up his mind not to tell Gai unless he had to.

"I'm worried about my father." Juni winces, the talk had technically been concluded the moment she had told Kakashi about Nobu's condition, in fact, Juni should be gone by now, crawling back into her warm bed. She could hear Shikaru in the back of her mind, yelling at her for bothering Kakashi with unnecessary details.

"Why is that?" Juni hugged herself. "He's a good man Kakashi; I just want him to be happy."

"You don't think he's happy?" Juni shook her head. "No, I don't. I mean, I know he's happy for now, with his students, and me, but…I don't think that will satisfy him in the years to come. Maybe he can trick himself in believing that but…" she looked at the older man. "I just want him to find a woman Kakashi Sensei that's all, one who will appreciate him just the way he is."

"And not use him like your mother did." Juni winced. "Just, look out for him please?" Kakashi nodded. "Alright, I will."

"Thanks." She undid the barrier, gathered her things, and got up. "Thank you for meeting me Kakashi Sensei, I really appreciate it."

"Anytime Juni." They waved their goodbyes and left.

Later in the morning Juni was woken to the sound of a soft knock on her door. She blinked hard. When she noticed that it was daylight out she let out a small squeal. "I'm sorry daddy!" She yelled, scrambling across the room to get her clothes. "I didn't mean to sleep in, I was busy last night, I-I got caught up in a book." She lied. "And I was studying it, and…"

"Juni-Chan, it's Lee." A voice said from across the door. Juni blinked one leg in her training pants. "Lee?" She was confused, why was Lee the one waking her up? "Yes, I just wanted to make sure everything was alright." Juni frowned, and finished putting her pants on. She looked in the mirror, and decided that she was descent enough to open the door. "What do you mean? Is there something supposed to be wrong?" She asked. Lee smile jovially at her. "Not a thing, Gai Sensei told me to look after you while he was gone."

"Gone? Wha-?" She licked her lips and ran her fingers through her hair, a sign that she was nervous, why was her father gone? "Gai sensei has been assigned a very important mission, and he'll be gone for a while, he asked me to look after you." Juni's frown got deeper. "Why didn't he tell me about it?" she wondered aloud. Lee held up a note. "He left this for you." She took it from his hands and began to read it.

"_Dear Juni, you seemed too peaceful this morning when I came into your room that I didn't want to wake you up. I'll be gone for a month or two on a very important mission. Meanwhile, I've asked Lee, Tenten, and Neji to take care of you while I'm gone. Please continue training with the team, I'll be back as soon as possible, and I'll write to you if I can. Love, Daddy."_ Juni looked at Lee. "We've decided to take shifts." Lee explained. "I'll be with you from morning until noon, then Neji will take over, and Tenten will spend the night with you." Juni let out a nervous laugh. "I think that's going a little too far don't you?" She asked. "I mean, it's not like I'm a wanted woman or anything, I don't need around the clock care."

"It's too late, we've already decided it." Lee said with conviction. She sighed. "Alright then, but that means you're going to have to help with chores." She said, flashing him a sweet smile. A small blush planted itself firmly on his face as he looked at the floor, saying nothing. "I'm kidding Lee, I got the chores thing, I hate it when people help me with my work." Lee's eyes knitted together in confusion. "Why is that Juni-Chan?"

"Because, I like my work done a certain way, I can't have it a certain way if someone else is doing it." She said. "That makes sense." She nodded. "Of course it does."

An awkward silence passed over them, broken by a loud stomach growl. "Oh! I'm sorry Lee, where are my manners? Hold on, I'll fix you something to eat." Juni pushed past him. "No, it is alright Juni-Chan, I am fine really!" Juni waved him off. "Nonsense, you're a guest in my home, and I intend to take care of you." She went out into the living room, checking to see if Lee was behind her. He was, and he was staring around the modest home. "I've never been inside Gai sensei's apartment before." He confessed. Juni smiled. "It's not much." she said, looking at the living room. In the middle, there was a single chair; it wasn't even one of the comfortable kinds. There was no T.V, and a small bookcase with few books. There was one picture on the wall, it was Juni's favorite, the one Gai had snatched from her mother's grasp.

It had been a festival day, and everyone was wearing green. Juni's face was covered in chocolate, and Gai's head was right next to hers, covered in strawberry jam. Her mother was in the background, genuinely laughing at the two, holding the goldfish Gai had just won for his daughter. "You look so happy in the picture." Lee commented. "I was, it was in the beginning, when everyone was happy." She looked at Lee and smiled. "Come on, let's get you something to eat." They made their way into the kitchen, which was no better than the living room. Just like the rest of the house, the kitchen only had one of everything. One small table, one chair, one pot, one skillet, on dish and cup. "Honestly," Juni fumed. "I don't understand how daddy can live like this!"

"You're room definitely has more furniture." Lee observed. Juni snorted. "It's because I know how to live like a human being, and not some wanna be hermit." Lee snickered. "Won't Gai sensei buy more things, now that you're here?" Juni shrugged. "We've talked about it." She admitted. "We looked at some furniture last night, but I don't really see the point, especially since I already have my furniture in my room."

"well, why would you want to be holed up in your room all the time?" Juni looked thoughtfully at her father's younger doppelganger. "I don't, usually, if I'm not in my room, sleeping or studying, then I'm outside, or at the dance studio, you wouldn't happen to have one here would you?" Lee shook his head. "Oh, that's a shame really."

"You really like to dance don't you?" Juni nodded her head. "Would you be comfortable performing in front of people?" Juni turned to her new friend. "Lee, would you like me to dance for you?"

"It does not have to be just for me! We could get a whole bunch of people!" He said, defending his seemingly odd request. Juni put a finger to her lips. "That isn't a bad idea Lee." She said. "Truthfully, I wouldn't mind it at all."

"Really? When can you do it?"

"When do you want me to do it?"

"A week from now." He clenched his fist and put it in the air. "Why are you getting so excited over a dance?" The boy looked away from her. "No reason, I just think it is pretty cool." She shook her head and continued to cook. "Do you have any siblings?" Lee asked, trying to make more conversation. "Yup, I'm the third oldest of thirteen children." Lee blinked hard. "You didn't tell us that in yesterday's story." He said. She shrugged. "I didn't really think it was relevant."

"Thirteen?" Juni nodded. "Wow, your mom is really…"

"A baby making machine? I know. Most people would call her a slut."

"Juni! You can't talk like that about your mother." Juni shrugged. "I don't talk about her like that, other people do. I've long since learned to deal with it." There was silence for another few minutes. "Do you love your mother?" Lee asked. Juni sighed. "Yes, of course, but it's only because she's my mother."

"What about your siblings?" He asked her, deciding to stray away from an obviously painful subject. "I have twelve brothers." She said. "Two of them are much older than I am. The rest are a lot younger than I am."

"What are they like?" Juni let out a nervous laugh. "Are you sure you want to get into this conversation?" She asked him. He nodded. "Of course I do! We're teammates! I want to know everything I can." Juni stared at him as a blush made its way onto his cheeks. She vaguely wondered if he had a fever, or if he blushed a lot, because that thing seemed to love the hell out of his face. "Well, there's Sentou and Tataki, my two eldest brothers, they have flaming red hair, and pretty caramel colored eyes. They're expert medical ninja. They sort of inspired me to get into medicine. Then there's Panchi, He's four years younger than me, we share the same birthday too. He's a very shy boy, and he lives with his father and stepmother, and their kids. Ahige, Hitonomi, and Soshaku are triplets; they live with mom back home. They're animal lovers. They're the ones that gave me Kujo before I left. Itami is next, he's shy, but don't make fun of him, he has a tendency to bite you if you do. Kizu and Kega are twins, they're toddlers. And the last three are also triplets, new born. Junan, Shougai, and Kitai." Lee nodded. "Wow, those are all…"

"Distressing names, I know. It's mother's firm belief that only women are allowed to have beautiful names. All men are disgusting pigs." Rock Lee frowned. "I hope you don't feel that way." Juni let out a short bark of laughter. "Absolutely not! I think all life is beautiful." Lee nodded. "I'm glad." Juni began to rummage around for suitable makeshift plates.

There was a time when Juni had thought that all men were detestable, her mother had seen to that. That was a time in in Juni's life when things had been at their worst, she had been angry all the time, at everyone, and for no reason, her mother's perfect little puppet. She had pissed off a lot of people in those days, and she wondered why none of them ever came after her. She decided to put those memories in the back of her mind. She finally found the one plate Maito Gai owned and began to spoon food onto it. She placed it in front of Lee. "That is a lot of food Juni-Chan, I do not think I can eat it all." Juni laughed. "You're not supposed to silly, you're supposed to share it with me." She walked into the living room and dragged the chair over to Lee. "Dig in!" she commanded. "After this, we go check on Nobu."

Juni made her way slowly through the door, slightly irritated at the person following her. "Lee, please, go home." Juni said. "No way, I made a commitment to Gai Sensei, and I intend to keep it!" Juni groaned. "Really, it's fine." She said, trying to shut the door. Lee still didn't seem to get the hint and stepped into her home. "Don't worry Juni, it will be as if I am not here."

"That's not what I'm worried about Lee." She mumbled. "What are you worried about then?" He asked her. "Nothing Lee. But if you're intent on staying the night, where are you going to sleep?"

"On the floor."

"I can't let you do that."

"Why not?" Juni sighed. "Because, I have been trained in the art of being the proper hostess," She informed him. "And Hostesses never let their guests sleep on the floor, or on the couch." She said. "Also, we have no food, and no source of entertainment. This makes me a most sorry hostess." She hoped that this would deter him from sleeping over. "That's alright." Lee lamented. "I'll remain ever vigilant, no matter what."

There was silence as Juni fought the urge to hit him. "Lee, darling, please," Lee blushed. No woman, except for his mother, had ever called him darling. "You're being unreasonable."

"I do not think so."

"Look, I'm sure my father didn't mean…" Lee held up his hand. "Please, Juni-chan, I do not wish to discuss this any further, my mind has been made up. I do not mind keep watch over you." She groaned and gave up; stomping all the way to her room to make sure her intense irritation was known. She knew Lee was only doing trying to do what her father had asked him, but she still felt he was taking it a little too far.

She took a good look around her room. Everything was mostly pink, it was a color she didn't particularly like, but her mother had bought everything for her, so she really had no say in the matter. The room was extremely neat and ordered, her books categorized by genre, and then alphabetized from there. There was no T.V and no vanity. The bed wasn't even a bed, it was a large mattress on the floor, covered in stuffed animals and blankets. She yanked one of the blankets from her bed. "Juni?" Lee asked. He had followed her. "You're sleeping on the floor, remember?" She said, finally playing along. He nodded. "Well then, you're going to need this," She spread the blanket out. "And these," She threw two large pillows down with the blanket. "And finally, you'll need this." She threw another blanket on the floor. "There, your bed is ready. Wash up, I have some of my brothers old clothes that might fit you. I'm going to the store, no ifs, ands, or buts, mister." She shot him a glare and stalked out of the room. "Stay here." She called, and the door slammed, leaving Lee in slight fear of his life.


	4. Chapter 4

Shikaru's Mission! Choji is getting Married?

Shikaru stretched, it felt good to be back in her own bed. She turned over and was met with her brother's skinny back. She smiled, kicked him in the butt, and stifled a laugh as he let out a yelp and slid from the edge of the bed. Shikaru merely looked at him as he glared at her from the floor. "Was that necessary?" He asked. "Everything I do is necessary." She informed him. "You're always so,"

"Troublesome, yeah, I know." Shikaru finished for him. "You need a new phrase bro, that one's getting old." Shikamaru said nothing, and got up. Shikaru did the same, and began rummaging through her bag. She twitched as a shirt was flung on her side of the room. "Really Shikamaru?" She complained. Her brother still said nothing. She glared and decided to flick her bra to his head; he caught it without even looking.

To someone outside looking in, two siblings of the opposite sex, changing in the same room would look odd, and would be considered taboo. But the Nara siblings had since gotten over it, it wasn't like they were committing incest, and to top it off, it wasn't like they purposely looked each other over. "So, what's that Ino chick like?" Shikaru asked, making conversation. Shikamaru thought about it for a moment. "She's bossy." He said. "I don't think you two will get along." Shikaru let out a guttural growl. It was a well-known fact that Shikaru absolutely hated authority figures, especially ones her own age.

"Will I have to beat a bitch down?" She asked. "No, you can't do that." Her brother admonished. "She's a team member."

"So? I'm only on this team because I'm undercover." Shikaru felt like the worst spy ever, but she wasn't spying on her brother and his team, she was spying on Nobu to make sure nothing happened. Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "You're still apart of this team, and a part of this family, you're not allowed to be too mean to Ino." Shikaru raised an eyebrow to her brother, who looked at her and smirked. "A small prank or two won't be too bad, as long as mom doesn't catch you." Shikaru rolled her eyes. "Ugh, mother." She shuddered.

"Hey, don't be too hard on her; she was the worst when you left." Shikaru shrugged. "I'm sort of hard-hearted about the whole thing." She admitted. Shikamaru placed a hand on his sister's shoulder. "Look," She shrugged him off. "I don't want to talk about it." She snapped. She shoved her shirt on and grabbed her shoes. Making her way to the window, she opened it, letting the warm air wash over her. "Where are you going?" Shikamaru asked. Shikaru simply slipped on her shoes and jumped out. He didn't understand why she didn't just use the front door; it wouldn't kill her to say hi to her other family members.

Down at the breakfast table, Shikamaru met with his parents. "Where's your sister?" His mother asked. "She left early this morning to go train." He lied. Yoshino Nara pursed her lips. "That's my baby!" Shikaku exclaimed. "Doesn't take a moments rest, I don't know where she gets it from." He laughed. It was true, even at a young age, Shikaru showed signs of being different. At three years, where other girls had been playing with dolls and picking flowers, Shikaru had already been training with kunai knife, copying her father's moves with scary accuracy. The rest of the Nara clan were renowned for their laziness.

Yoshino served breakfast, a small look of hurt on her face. She and her daughter had never been that close. The two domineering personalities had led to some nasty fights until the younger girl had stopped talking to her mother altogether. A lot of people thought Shikaru was heartless because of it, but her brother knew better, it was just a defense mechanism for Shikaru. If she doesn't talk to the person, they don't exist; therefore, there were no problems in her life. "Don't worry mom, I'm sure she'll be home for dinner." Shikamaru assured her. Yoshino only gave a slight nod.

When Shikaru finally decided to show up for her daily training with her new team, they were already well on three hours in. "Hey! Thanks for showing up on time!" Ino snapped. Shikaru only sent her a look. "Shikaru-san, where have you been?" Choji asked. She shrugged. "I had something to do." She said. "I'm here now, though." She held up a file. "What's that?" Ino asked. "A mission." Asuma said. Shikaru nodded. "Yup." She handed it to her new teacher. "I hope you know, this throws a kink into my own mission." She glared at him. Asuma raised an eyebrow and opened the file. "We're going to the Land of Jelly." Shikaru said. "I've been there once; it's a nice town, a complete misnomer if you ask me."

"What? The Land of Jelly?" Choji scoffed. "That's the stupidest name I've ever heard." Shikaru shrugged. "Say what you want about it," She said. "But nobles go there all the time for some intense relaxation." Asuma scanned the file. "We're to escort a young girl and her family there." He said. "The Nakigara family." Shikaru nodded. "I heard about them, they're an up and coming family, they offer their services to the highest bidder, and it's worked out well for them so far." Asuma grunted. "This shouldn't be too bad." He told them, he frowned though as he got deeper into it. "We're requested to travel exclusively at night."

"What why?" Choji whined. "The youngest Nakigara female, the one we're hired to guard, hates the sun." Shikaru informed them. "Her eyes are sensitive to it; it causes retinal damage, and an intense amount of pain."

"You seem to know a lot about this family." Ino pointed out, suspicious. "I know a lot about many things Ino." Shikaru turned to her. "So does Juni and Nobu, we've been on countless missions, met countless people, been countless places. When you travel for years like we did, you're bound to pick a few things up, a few names here and there." She shrugged. "Besides, I've treated young Rei Nakigara before."

"Treated?" Asuma asked. "Shikaru is a great medical ninja." Choji said. "No, that's Juni; she can diagnose you just by looking at you. I work in the more physical aspect of things."

"What do you mean the more physical aspects of things? Isn't medicine, medicine?" Ino commented.

"Are you stupid?" Shikaru snapped. "It's like being a physical trainer," Shikamaru explained, interrupting before a fight broke out. "She can push you to your physical peak, and then some. She also works in rehabilitation of ninja who've recently lost muscle mass in a limb, things like that."

"I give great massages too." She said, cracking her knuckles. "Anyway, I suggest you all go home, get packed, and relax, sleep, eat, whatever. We leave at dusk."

"Hey! Isn't Asuma Sensei supposed to tell us when we leave?" Ino asked. Shikaru twitched; this girl was really rubbing her the wrong way. "Ino, she's obviously read the file." Asuma said, handing it to the blond girl. "It says we have to leave at dusk, or the mission is forfeit, and we lose a ton of money." Ino let out a small growl and snatched the papers away from her teacher. "Whatever!" She snapped, walking away. "Is she always like that?" Shikaru asked. "Only when you don't do what she tells you to." Choji said. "Ugh! What an awful person!"

"Don't let her hear you say that." Choji warned. "She might beat you up." Shikaru snorted. "The only person that could beat me up is Juni." She said. "I'm not worried about anyone else." She turned on her heel. "Wait! Where are you going?" Choji ran after her. "Food is on me big guy!" She said, wrapping an arm around his waist, she couldn't reach his shoulders even in heels. "I'm starved."

"Yeah, me too!" Then again, Choji was always hungry. The pair walked off, and as soon as they were out of earshot, Asuma asked his question. "Hey, has your sister always been…" He searched for the right word to describe her. "Nonchalant and abrasive? Over confident and annoying? Troublesome but loveable? Yes, always, even when we were young." Asuma laughed. "So you two are close?"

"Very close." Shikamaru admitted. "Shikaru comes off as an asshole a lot of the time, like she doesn't care, but she's more affected by certain things than she lets on."

"I've read her file Shikamaru." Asuma said. "Oh?"

"And I've heard some pretty nasty rumors. I just want to warn you, if it's true what they say about her…" He left to comment open; sure his young student would get the meaning. Shikamaru shrugged. "I don't really care what they say about her, on file, or by word of mouth, she's my sister." Shikamaru walked off, somewhat irritated, and decided he would mooch of his sister since she was paying.

Shikaru walked through the door, a little late for dinner. "Shikaru, you're home!" Her mother sounded a little more excited than she should be, this dinner could end up a disaster. "Yup, decided I was going to eat dinner with you guys tonight." She sat down next to her father. The Nara males decided to brace themselves early for a fight, one that might come to blows even. "Well?" Yoshino asked. "How was your training?" She began serving food, hands shaking when they got to her daughter. "It was intense." Shikaru admitted. "Sometimes is felt like I was going to die, others times, I nearly did." She shrugged. "Like any other Ninja training." Her mother nodded. "And what about your teammates?"

Shikaru shot a quick glance at her mother. Shikaku prepared to spring into action. "They're good people." She said. They all let out the breath they were holding. With each new question was a new opportunity for Shikaru to snap, the fact that the girl was even talking to her mother was short of a fucking miracle. Shikaru often felt attacked by everyone around her. "Best team I could ask for actually."

"I'm glad." Yoshino smiled. Shikaru ignored it and began to devour her food, despite the fact that she had a huge lunch. Everyone fell silent, the sounds of food being chewed the only noises heard.

As usual, Shikaru was the first one done. "Hurry up Shikamaru, we're going to be late." Her brother grunted but said nothing. "Late for what? Asuma pushing you guys for some midnight training?" Shikaku asked. "No, we got assigned a mission today." Shikaru informed them. "Dinner was good mom. Thanks."

"You sure you don't want more?" Yoshino got up, ready to serve her daughter. "Mom," Shikaru looked at the older woman, trying not to seem too menacing. "You're trying way too hard." With that she left the room. Yoshino let out a long sigh and sat back down. "Don't worry mom, at least she's talking to you again." Shikamaru got up. "That's true, and at least she didn't throw a plate." Shikaku added. Yoshino merely nodded, and began to pick at her food.

Shikamaru slammed open the door. "Why the hell do you have to treat mom that way?" He snapped. Shikaru glared at him, but didn't answer. "Whatever happened between you two happened a long time ago! What the hell is wrong with you? Why are you still holding a grudge?" She still didn't answer him. Shikamaru let out a groan and threw his hands up. "You need to get that stick out of your ass Shikaru, it wasn't justified when we were children, it's not justified now." She still said nothing; instead she finished packing her things. "Are you going to get ready?" She asked. "Or are you going to keep bitching at me at the treatment of mom? Either way, you don't have that much time."

"Look, mom made mistakes alright? Everyone makes them, you need to forgive her and move on." He said, trying to change his tactics. Shikaru rolled her eyes and shouldered her pack. "Whenever you're ready bro, I'll be at the meeting place." She punched his shoulder lightly and walked out of the room.

Asuma was sitting on a rock when Shikaru showed up. "Hey! What's up?" He asked. She merely looked at him. "Not in the greatest moods I get it." He put a hand on her shoulder. They sat for there for a while, in a sort of awkward silence. "You know what the fuck I don't get? Is why Shikamaru has to get involved when he doesn't even fucking know what's going on." Asuma was suddenly alert, and staring at his new student. "I mean, he always took mom's side on everything, it was like the two were plotting to make my life hell or something." Shikaru began to pace back and forth, getting more and more heated as she talked. "I mean sure, I wasn't exactly the poster child! But neither was Shikamaru, and all she did was complain and bitch about me! But she praised Shikamaru. As if he couldn't do anything fucking thing wrong!"

Asuma remained silent. He had a feeling Shikaru had kept this all bottled up for a while now. "Do you have any idea how damaging that is to a kid? Being constantly compared to your brother! Who's lazy and never does anything? And then there's you!" She threw her hands into the air. "Who works like fucking crazy to impress everyone around you! You train really hard, and you study even harder, possibly averaging two hours a night for sleep! And what happens? Your brother kicks someone ass in a stupid fucking board game, and he's suddenly recognized as the genius in the family! Are you fucking kidding me?" She rounded and him. "And then, when you get back home, what happens? Everyone all of a sudden wants to be nice to you! 'Oh, how have you been?' they say! 'How are you doing now?' they ask! And they expect you to be all fucking hunky dory with their fake ass bullshit! And as soon as you aren't! Guess what? You're the same old fucking bitch that left from before! As if I don't have feelings! As if I don't care what they say about me! As if I…" She suddenly straightened up and did an about face, shocking Asuma so severely his cigarette dropped. "This encounter never happened, you know nothing."

He was going to say something when he saw the rest of his students appear. "Ugh!" Ino groaned, finally catching up to them. "Must you come with us?" She asked. "Of course she does." A voice said. They all turned. "If it weren't for Shikaru, my family and I would have taken our considerable amount of money elsewhere."

"Rei-Sama!" Shikaru skipped over to the girl and hugged her. "I missed you so much!"

"I've missed you too Shikaru darling." The taller woman ran her fingers through Shikaru's hair. Asuma briefly wondered if the two had a thing going on.

"You must be Rei Nakigara." Asuma said. The girl looked at him. "Yes, these are my uncles, Shikyo and Shigai." The two men on either side of her bowed. Rei Nakigara was a beautiful woman, with high cheek bones, green eyes, and thick, glossy black hair, however, she looked like death itself. Her skin was ghostly pale, and her body was frail looking. So frail in fact, a small breeze might snap her in two. Her uncles shared the green eyes and black hair, but they looked alive at least. Underneath her green eyes were large dark circles, coupled with bags. Her stark white Kimono made her look even creepier.

"My name is Asuma Sarutobi, you already know Shikaru, this is Ino Yamanaka, Choji Akimichi, and Shikamaru Nara."

"So this is your brother?" Rei untangled herself from her friend and walked, no; excuse me, floated over to Shikamaru. He leaned away from her as she moved in close. "Wow, you two really do look a lot alike. Shikaru has told me so much about you."

"My lady, we have time to talk later, please, we must get started on our journey." One of the uncles said. Rei rolled her eyes. "Yes, yes," She said, slightly annoyed. "Or else, bad things will happen, ohhhh." She made a ghostly noise and walked towards the front. She took Shikaru's hand in hers and began talking jovially to her friend. "Asuma Sensei, do you really need me here?" Ino asked. "Because if you don't, I would like to go home now." Asuma put a hand on her head. "How bad can it be?" He asked her.

Three days later, and Ino wanted to be home more than ever. Rei and her uncles managed to keep a grueling pace. She groaned as she managed to sit her sore and tired body to the ground. Choji and Shikamaru simply fell. "I don't think I can go any longer." Choji whined. Shikaru merely stood, looking at the sky. "The sun doesn't come up for another four hours guys, if we keep going, we can get to a small village in two, and then stay there for a couple of days." They all looked at her, skeptical. She was getting tired as well, she was out of practice.

"She's right you know." Rei commented. "And I hear they have really good barbeque." Choji and Shikaru looked at her. "All right! Let's get going!" They yelled at the same time, energy suddenly renewed.

"Ugh! Guys calm down, the rest of us need a break." Ino whined. "You people can sleep 'til your dead." Shikaru grumbled. Rei laughed at her and rubbed her back. "It's even all you can eat." She teased. Shikaru glared at her friend. "Not. Funny." She hissed. "I think it's fucking hilarious." Rei laughed. "Evil! Mean! Evil!" Shikaru flailed. "It's not fair! I'm hungry! And I'm tired! And I smell bad!" Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "Stop whining, we're all hungry, tired, and smelly." A shoe landed firmly on his face. "I wasn't asking you!" She yelled. "Why do you have to be such a bitch all the time?" Shikamaru yelled back. "Guys, calm down." Asuma said. "No!" They yelled at him. Choji back away slowly. It wasn't often the Shikaru and her brother fought, but when they did…people standing nearby usually got hurt.

They glared at each other, Shikaru was visibly shaking, this was going to be bad. She took in a deep breath, and let it out slowly. "I knew I should have never come back." She said. She shouldered her bag. "Shikaru, wait." Shikamaru reached out for her.

"You idiots stay here and do whatever the hell you want. I'm getting my ass to the next village. I'm not going hungry for any of you." With that, she was off.

Shikaru breathed deeply, and clenched her fists. The shaking wouldn't stop. "Damn it!" She looked in the mirror, there were tears running down her face. She didn't cry often, but her repressed emotions managed to leak out from time to time. She sighed and ran her hands through her wet hair. She had been in the town for a little over six hours, the sun was shining brightly, and as tired as she was, she still couldn't sleep.

Shikaru Nara was an angry person, angrier than most people thought she was, and people be damned if it wasn't hard for her to fucking control. She had to find some way to cool herself off before she rejoined her brother and his goons. She stripped off her towel and made her way into the middle of the hotel room. Spreading the towel out, she sat, taking in large deep breaths, and thinking calming thoughts. Her meditation wouldn't help that much, but it would calm her down enough so she could deal with the people in her life.

She wished Juni and Nobu were there to help calm her down. She twitched as a soft knock was heard on the door, but she didn't answer it. "Sister, I know you're in there." Came Shikamaru's voice. She still didn't answer. "Look, I'm sorry I jumped you like that, I was just tired ok?" Still nothing. "Come on, you can't be that angry can you?" Shikaru sighed and wrapped the towel around her. She stomped to the door. "Are you fucking kidding me?" She growled opening it. That was a bad idea.

Stars began to dance around the edges of her vision as pain exploded to her right temple. She landed on her feet and looked at the imposter. Ok, so she deserved that hit, she was being stupid and careless, but she wanted to see them land another one. "you're a pretty one aren't you?" He said, looking her over in the towel. "And you're a fucking ugly bastard." She retorted. He was, a long scar ran down his face and disappeared underneath his clothing. He was hairy as well, something Shikaru didn't particularly like in her men. He glared at her.

"So, I hear you're transporting a certain someone." Shikaru said nothing, all her weapons were in the other room, and she knew she wasn't fast enough to go get them. "Rei Nakigara, where is the little slut." Shikaru growled. "Oh, did I hit a nerve little girl?" Yes, yes he did, Shikaru didn't take kindly to people calling her good friends sluts. Before anything else could be said, the man stood up straight, and he became scary thin and pale, and dropped to the floor. "Shikaru? Are you…oh my." Rei stepped into the room, she was met with a half naked ninja with blood running down the side of her face. "Are you alright?" Rei walked over to her friend and began to asses the damage. "I'm fine Rei, hopped up on adrenaline sure, but I'm fine."

"Did you find her?" Choji came barreling in next, and stopped in his tracks. "Oh, I-I'm s-sorry, I-I didn't know…" A huge blush come over his face. "I-I'll just be outside." And he closed the door. "Well? Was she in there, is she ok?" Shikamaru's voice was next. "Rei! Are you alright?" Pounding on the door from her uncles, a multitude of voices next as everyone argued all at once. "I'm fine, go out there and clam everyone down." Rei looked at her. "Just go would you?" Shikaru snapped. "Are you on your period or what?" Rey grumbled, but did as she was told. Shikaru was getting really angry at everyone for jumping her.

When everyone had finally calmed down, and things had been sorted out, a decision was made; Shikaru was no longer allowed to go off by herself. "Would you rather I kill you all?" Asuma tensed, he assumed that the rumors of her intense bouts of rage were true. "You would Kill us, Shikaru." Rei said. "You're too nice for that."

"Nice?" Ino stood up and pointed at her. "That little monster of evil is nice?" Rey merely blinked. "Well of course she is. She acts all big and bad, but she's nothing but a softly." Rei nudged Shikaru with her foot. "Especially with a certain blond we know."

Shikaru blushed and looked away. She didn't particularly like it when her tender moments with her friends were commented on.

"Please tell me we're talking about your blond headed boyfriend." Shikamaru said. "because I have the feeling you're gay."

"So what if I'm gay?" Shikaru snapped. "Would that be too much of a problem for you?"

"Shikaru, you seriously need to chill out, not everything we say is an attack." Asuma barked. Shikaru rolled her eyes. "That's not my problem." She whispered. "Then what is?" Shikamaru asked. "You've been like this since you came back, and it's starting to get annoying."

"why did those men attack you?" Shikaru asked, changing the subject. "was it for the usual reasons?" Rei nodded. "great."

"What usual reasons?" Asuma asked. "Why is everything so secretive when you're involved?" He asked Shikaru. Of course he was talking about her files as well. She merely shrugged. "Alright," She sighed. "Here's the plan, you and Choji are getting married."

"What?" Choji asked. Shikaru held up her hand. "It's a ruse." Rei explained. Shikaru nodded. "Rei is now pregnant as well." Rei saluted her. "You can't ruin our nieces reputation like that!" One of her uncle's roared. "Which is more important to your family? Rei alive? Or Rei's reputation? Tell me now and she can easily be dispatched before the week is out." The uncle sat down. "That's what I thought. Now, Rei and Choji are getting married, and she's pregnant. The mission has changed, we're taking you home, not to the Land of Jelly."

"We have to get to the Land of Jelly, we have no choice." Rei said. Shikaru rolled her eyes. "Why? Why do we have to go there?"

"There's…" Rei looked at Shikaru pleadingly; she really didn't want to explain. "Ugh! Fine! Go to sleep everyone, I'll think of something." They all looked at her as she bit her thumbnail. "I said go to sleep!" she snapped. Everyone grumbled but did as they were told.

Things were getting more and more complicated. If people were attacking Rei Nakigara for the 'usual reasons' that meant they would have to be on constant guard, they could trust no one, and they would most likely have to resort to some sort of guerilla warfare type living. On top of that, she would most likely need to take Juni off of babysitting duty. But Nobu needed to be watched. Shikaru rubbed her eyes, She need to get Rei straight home so her own ninja can handle her, but Rei needed something important from the Land of Jelly, and Nobu need watching and could possibly break over the news of the Kyuubi's mate inside her. What the hell was she going to do?


End file.
